1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a contact aligning structure for correctly aligning contacts when an IC is pressed against the contacts, in an IC socket of the type in which an IC is pressed against the contacts by a pressing member in order to obtain electrical and physical contact.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, there has been known an IC socket, as one type of electrical and physical connection between terminal portions of an IC and contacts of a socket, in which a downwardly directed force is applied to an IC body or IC terminal portions by a pressing cover provided on the socket or by an IC carrier for carrying the IC thereon. This force causes contact point portions of the contacts with the IC terminal portions placed thereon to be resiliently downwardly shifted by this downwardly directed force, thereby creating a contact pressure between the contact point portions and the IC terminal portions due to reaction thereof.
However, in the socket of the above-mentioned type, as the arrangement pitches of the IC terminals become smaller and smaller, contacting areas of the IC terminal portions become smaller and smaller. Therefore, to obtain a reliable contact is an important problem. Particularly, when the contact point portion supported by the spring portion of each contact is shifted downwardly upon downward movement of the pressing portion, a backward shifting component of the contact point portion is also generated and therefore, there is a possibility that inferior contact will occur for some part of the contact point portion because the contact point portion may come out of the area of the IC terminal portion when the pressing member makes a final downward movement.
Also, it is unavoidable that alignment of the contact point portions becomes irregular due to errors of implanting positions of the contacts, errors of manufacture of the contacts, and the like. Depending on the degree of irregularity, it becomes difficult to obtain reliable contact with the IC terminal portions. This problem becomes more serious as the length dimension of the spring portion for supporting the contact point portion is increased in order to assume more reliable contact.